Drive mechanism for shaker conveyers



May 4, E37. G. w. PACKER DRIVE MECHANISM FOR SHAKER CONVEYERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Sept. 27, 1954 l/e/odl mik @I4/7677i May 4, i937.

G. w. PACKER 2,@79,360

DRIVE MECHANISM FOR SHAKER CONVEYERS original Filed sept. 27, 1954 3 sheets-sheet 2 ay 4, i937. G. w. PAcKl-:R 2,079,360 v DRIVE MECHANISM FOR SHAKER CONVEYERS original'Filed sept. 27, 1934 s sheets-sheet 5 len/z [Jac/fer @QM SI. P

Patented May 4, 1937 UNETED STATES PATENT GFFICE DRIVE MECHANIsM FOR SHAKER ooNvEYERs corporation of Illinois Application September 27, 1934, Serial No. 745,655

- Renewed September 4, 1936 16 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in drive mechanisms for shaker conveyers of the type utilized for conveying loose material, such as coal, and more particularly to drives of the type in which the violence of conveying action may be varied, or the direction of the action may be reversed under the control of the operator.

More specically, the present invention is directed to improvements in construction of the type of drive mechanism disclosed in the application of William W. Sloane, Serial No. 712,969, filed February 26, 1934, and has for its object to provide a simpliiiedV construction which is capable of producing more accurate control in variations of the conveying action and is more economical to manufacture.

Other objects of my invention will appear from time to time as the following description proceeds.

My invention may best be understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a top plan view showing a device embodying my invention operatively connected with a section of conveyer troughing;

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the mechanism with a portion of the gear cover removed and with parts broken away and shown in horizontal section to show the details thereof;

Figure 3 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 3 3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an' end View of the gear casing, drawn to a smaller scale than Figure 3, but showing in dotted lines the arrangement of the mechanism for reversing the direction of movement of material along the pan line;

Figure 5 is a diagram, or graph, showing certain hypothetical Velocity curves of shaker motions attainable by thevshaker mechanism; and

Figure 6 is a detail section of the worm gear locking mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings which illustrate one embodiment of my invention, a shaker drive mechanism indicated generally by numeral i3, is mounted on a base plate H adapted to be held in position on the mine bottom in the usual manner, as by a plurality of jacks (not shown) The general arrangement of the drive mechanism, and the details of the planetary gear reduction mechanism utilized therein are the same as shown and described in the aforementioned application of William W. Sloane, but as al1 of said parts cooperate to produce the desired variations in shaking motion, said parts will be briefly described.

A casing I 6 having cover plate Il is secured to the horizontal legs of a pair of angles I4, I4 suitably secured to the base plate I l, as by welding. One end of said casing is enclosed by end plate i8 of a motor I9, of standard construction having an armature shaft 20.

The armature shaft 20 has a pinion 2| keyed thereto which acts as the sun pinion for a planetary gear reduction device, indicated generally at 28 (see Figure 2).

The pinion 2l meshes with and drives planetary gears 22, 22 carried on parallel-spaced shafts 23, 23 which shafts are journaled adjacent their ends in a cage 24. Said cage is provided with a hub 25 keyed to an inner end of a shaft 26 and held in fixed relation with respect thereto by means of a suitable nut and washer, indicated by reference character 21. Said shaft is journaled adjacent the hub of said cage in a suitable anti-friction bearing member 29 carried in a suitable bearing support means, herein shown as being formed integral with the casing I6. A suitable anti-friction bearing member 30 carried in the outer end of said casing and held therein by a removable end plate 3| forms a bearing for the opposite end of said shaft.

Planetary pinions 32, 32 are keyed on the shafts 23, 23 and spaced from the planetary gears 22, 22 and mesh with an internal ring gear 33. Said internal ring gear serves as a reaction member for the planetary geared reduction device and its outer periphery and side adjacent the motor I9 abuts a shouldered portion of a rotatable support member 35, which support member extends over the planetary gears 22, 22 and is journaled on a hub 36 formed integral with the end plate I8 of the motor I9. A spider 31 abuts the opposite face of said internal gear and is journaled on its hub in a suitable bearing member 38 carried on a shoulder 39 formed on a portion of the outer side of the support member for the bearing 29. The support member 35 and spider 31 are secured to each other, and to the internal ring gear 33' by means of suitable nuts and bolts 40, 40 so that all of said last-named parts may rotate as a unit.

It will be apparent that rotation of the sun pinion 2| will rotate the cage 24 within the internal gear 33 when said internal gear is held from movement. When the internal gear 33 is free to rotate in the direction of rotation of the cage 24, the speed of rotation of said cage will be increased, but when the internal gear 33 is rotated in an opposite direction, the speed of rotation of said cage will be decreased.

The outer end of the shaft 26 extends beyond the bearing 36 and is provided with a crank 4I, herein shown as being formed integral with said shaft. Said crank has a pusher rod or pitman 43 journaled thereon by means of a suitable bearing member 413. The free end of said pusher rod is pivotally connected to a connecting member 65, secured to and depending from a conveyer trough 46 for reciprocably moving said conveyer trough upon rotation of said crank.

Referring now in particular to the mechanism for changing the rate of acceleration of the crank 4I which mechanism forms the subject matter of the present invention, the same comprises a novel arrangement for rocking the internal gear 33 alternately in opposite directions during each revolution of said crank. Said mechanism, as herein shown, includes a crank 41, formed integrally with the shaft 26 intermediate the bearings 23 and 36. Said crank is so disposed with respect tothe crank 4l that it is 90 out of phase therewith, in a manner similar to that described in the foregoing application of W. W. Sloane. In my improved construction, the crank 61 has bearing in an anti-friction bearing 49 carried by a block 56. Said block is part of a Scotch yoke in which said block is arranged for horizontal sliding movement between upper and lower guide members Ela, EID of a frame or yoke 52. Said frame, in turn, is guided for vertical movement by means of upright flanges 53, 53

slidable in grooves 54, 54 formed between outer bearing strips 55, 55 engaging the end wall of casing i6 and inner bearing strips 56, 56 secured to offset portions 51, 51/ of the casing by detachable plates 68, 58 suitably secured, as by cap screws 59, 59.

The frame 52 is also provided with a hollow annular rextension 66 surrounding the crank 41. A link 6I has its larger end rotatably mounted on said annular extension, and its smaller end pivotally connected to an intermediate point of a lever 69 by means of a pin 14.

The lever 69 is pivoted at o-ne end to an inwardly extending projection 1I of a worm gear ring 61 by a pin 12. Said worm gear ring is mounted within the casing I6 for rotatable movement with respect thereto, and its general arrangement and function is similar to that of the worm gearing, previously employed in drive mechanisms of the same type; namely, to change the angular position of the lever 69, resulting in variations in violence of the shaking action, and also by suitable adjustment, as will presently appear, to reverse the effective direction of shaking movement.

Inthe improved form shown, the gear ring 61 abuts a shouldered portion 62 formed on the lower portion of casing I6, and a retaining ring 63 engages the opposite side of said ring, as shown in Figure 2. f

A worm 61a, herein shown as being formed integral with a shaft 64, meshes with the worm gear ring 61. Said shaft has bearing at its upper and lower ends in a housing 65 forming part of the casing I6 and is manually controllable by a hand wheel 66.

The outer end of the lever 69 is connected through a link 1S toa projection 6I by a pin 82. Said projection extends outwardly from the spider 31 forming the reaction member of the planetary gear reduction device, previously described.

It will now be apparent that upon rotation of the shaft 26, the crank 41 will simultaneously reciprocate the block 50 laterally in the :frame 52 while said frame will be .reciprocated in a vertical direction. The vertical component of rotation will be imparted from the frame 52 through the link 6I to the lever 69, provided said lever is properly positioned with respect to said frame. Rocking movement of the lever 69 will rock the internal gear 33 `in opposite directions during each revolution of the shaft 26 in the usual manner, so as to vary the acceleration and deceleration of the trough with respect to a normal velocity curve, represented by the sine curve A of Figure 6, so as to assume an acceleration curve similar to that indicated by curve B of Figure 6, in which the trough will be given the desired shaking action, so as to progress material therealong in one direction. The greater the arc of movement of the internal gear 33 during each revolution of crank 4I, the steeper will be the line, shown hypothetically by curve B of Figure 6, indicating the deceleration of the forward stroke of the trough, resulting in an increase in material travel.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, it will be observed that this difference in effective arc of rocking movement of the internal gear 33 may be controlled by rotation of the worm gear 61, through manipulation of the hand wheel 66. Rotation of the worm gear in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 3 will result in a gradual decrease in movement of the lever 69 and internal gear 33 until a point is reached (when the pin 14 is approximately in a. plane midway of the horizontal guide members 5Ia, 5Ib) where there will be no appreciable movement of said internal gear. The velocity curve of the trough 46 will then be a sine curve and no movement of material will result, as has hereinbefore been explained.

Further movement of the worm gear 61 in a clockwise direction from a position where there is no appreciable movement of the internal gear 33, causes said internal gear to vbe rocked in an opposite direction and the peak of the acceleration .curve occurs in the rst 90 of the cycle of rotation of crank 4 I. Thus, in the position of the parts shown in dotted lines in Figure 4, the direction of movement of material will be reversed with respect to the position shown in Figure 3, since the Velocity curve is then substantially as indicated at C in Figure 6, in which the acceleration and deceleration peaks are now on the opposite sides of the peaks of the sine curve A from curve B.

As a further feature of my improved construction, I provide a novel locking means for restraining the worm gear ring 61 from rotation. In the form shown, a semi-circular shoe 15 is tted over the upper half of said worm, said shoe having depending flanges 16, 16, as clearly shown in Figure 6. The opposite ends of said shoe are provided with upright extensions 11, 11 which t in vertical sliding engagement between the side walls of the casing I6, as shown in Figure 3. Said shoe is adjusted to provide a braking or clamping action relative to said gear ring by means of a pair of set screws 16, 18 threaded through the cover plate I1 and having extensions 80, rotatably seated in the extensions 11, 11.

The advantages of my improved construction will now be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art. The parts controlling rocking movement of the reaction member 33 are simpler, less expensive, and more durable than those previously employed for this purpose. zMoreover, my improved mechanism is especially designed to utilize, by selection, the vertical component only of rotaton of the crank arm 41. By applying this component directly to the rocking lever 69 in its various positions of adjustment, more uniform variations in acceleration and deceleration curves are attainable, and the eiectivenes's of the drive may therefore be maintained substantially at maximum eiiiciency, evenY though the violenceof shaking action may be'varied widely, or reversed, as abovezdescribed.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which my invention may be embodied, it will be understood-that the construction and arrangement of the various parts may be changed or altered with-out dep-arting from the spirit or scope thereof. Furthermore, I do not wish to be construed as limiting myself to the precise construction illustrated, excepting as it may be limited in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a shaker conveyer drive, a driving shaft, a driven shaft having a crank thereon, drive gearing for rotating said crank with a pre/determined variable angular velocity during each revolution thereof including an orbitally movable pinion, a reaction member movable in opposite directions during each revolution of said crank meshed with said pinion, and means for reciprocably moving said reaction member in timed relation with said crank including a yoke mounted for translational movement in one plane, a member guided in said yoke for slidable movement in a plane disposed transversely to the plane of movement of said yoke, means for reciprocably moving said member in said yoke in one plane and simultaneously moving said yoke in a transverse plane, and an operative connection between sai-d yoke and reaction member.

2. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 1, in which the member is mounted on said driven shaft eccentric of the center thereof.

3. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 1, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes a lever arm, and means for shifting the pivotal axis of said lever arm in such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversing its direction of rotation.

4. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 1, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes an annular projection encircling said driven shaft, a link journaled thereon, and a lever arm fulcrume-d adjacent one of its ends, said lever arm being connected to said reaction member adjacent its opposite end, and to said link intermediate its ends.

5. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 1, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes a lever arm, and means for shifting the pivotal axis of said lever arm in such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversing its direction of rotation, and in which the pivotal axis of said lever arm is adjustable about an axis concentric with the axis of said reaction member.

6. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim l, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes an annular projection encircling said driven shaft, a link journaled thereon, and a lever arm fulcrumed adjacent one of its ends to an adjustable fulcrum member and connected to said reaction member adjacent its opposite end and said link intermediate its ends, and in which means are provided for shifting said fulcrum member in' such a manner'as to reverse the orderofacceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversingl its direction of rotation.

f7. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim .1, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes an annular projection encircling said driven shaft, a link journaled thereon, and aflever arm fulcrumed adjacent oneof its ends to an adjustable fulcrum member and connected to said' reaction member adjacent its'opposite end and said link intermediate its ends, in which said adjustable fulcrum member includes a gear movable about any axis concentric with the axis of said reaction member, and in which means are provided for rotating said gear and other means are provided for locking said gear in a iixed position so as to reverse the order of acceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversing its direction of rotation.

8. In a shaker conveyer drive, a driving shaft, a driven shaft having a crank thereon, planetary drive gearing for rotating said crank with alternating acceleration and deceleration during each revolution thereof, including a reaction member movable in opposite directions, means for shifting said reaction member in timed relation with said crank including a slidably mounted Scotch yoke guided for reciprocable movement and having an eccentric slidably movable transversely thereof and reciprocably driven in timed relation to said crank, and a connection between said yoke and said reaction member.

9. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 8, in which the eccentric is mounted on said driven shaft and extends through said yoke.

10. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 8, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes a lever arm, and means for shifting the pivotal axis of said lever arm in such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration anddeceleration of said drivencrank Without reversing its direction of rotation.

11. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 8, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes a lever arm, and means for shifting the pivotal axis of said lever arm in such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversing its direction of rotation, and in which the pivotal axis of said lever arm is adjustable about an axis concentric with the axis of said reaction member.

12. In a shaker conveyer drive, a support including a frame member, a driving shaft, a driven shaft having a crank thereon, planetary drive gearing for rotating said crank with a predetermined variable angular velocity during each revolution thereof including a reaction member movable in opposite directions during each revolution of said crank, and means for reciprocably moving said reaction member in timed relation with said crank including a yoke guided for reciprocable translational movement in said frame member in one plane, amember guided in said yoke for reciprocable translational movement transversely of said yoke for reciprocably moving said yoke, and an operative connection between said yoke and reaction member.

13. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim 12, in which the member is journaled on said driven shaft eccentric of the center thereof.

14. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance With claim 12, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes a. .lever arm, and means for shifting the pivotal axis of said lever arm in such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration and. deceleration of said driven crank Without reversingits direction ofl rotation. f 15. A shaker conveyer drive in accordance with claim l2, in which the connection between the yoke and the reaction member includes an annular projection encircling said driven shaft, a link jcurnaled thereon, and a lever arm fulcrumedr adjacent one of its ends, said lever arm being connected to said reaction member adjacent its opposite end, and to said link intermediate its ends.

such a manner as to reverse the order of acceleration and deceleration of said driven crank without reversing its direction of rotation.

GLENN W. PACKER. 

